He Can Move the Mountains by Catherine Barbey

Author:Catherine Barbey
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Catherine Barbey
Published: 2020-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Azamat

Azamat walked through the doors of the Orange Café and looked around at the people inside. He had rushed here as fast as he could after Madina had casually mentioned at home that Alyona was meeting her friend Alikhan tonight for a bite to eat. He could be wrong, but something inside him told him that Alikhan was building up the courage to ask Alyona out. Ever since the incident with Papa in the park, Azamat had learned that it was best not to ignore his intuition. But he could be wrong. He was either just about to save the day or make a huge mistake.

He spotted the teenagers over in the corner by the large pot plant and approached their table before he had time to change his mind. The two looked up straight away. There was no mistaking the flicker of an angry glare in Alikhan’s eyes. Had he interrupted something? In that case, he hadn’t been a moment too soon.

“Hi Uncle Azamat, what are you doing here? Are you looking for me?” Alyona’s manner was breezy and cheerful. It didn’t look as if Alikhan had had a chance yet to say anything to her.

“Yes,” Azamat replied, trying to muster a friendly smile. “Your mother told me you’d be here.”

“Is she alright? Is everything okay?” Alyona asked, concern wiping away her smile. “You look funny.”

Azamat drew up an empty chair and sat down between the two of them.

“She’s fine. Everyone’s fine,” he said, looking first at Alyona and then at Alikhan. How was he going to even begin? He’d had no time to think this through properly. He’d just run off on a whim. Totally unprepared.

“Then why are you looking so serious?”

Azamat cleared his throat. They were both looking at him, wanting an answer. How on earth was he going to tell them what they needed to know? There’d been no time to consult further with Milana. He guessed she hadn’t said anything yet, otherwise Alikhan wouldn’t be looking at him in that quizzical way. Azamat glanced around. Fortunately, the other customers were far enough away for their conversation not to be overheard, but he lowered his voice anyway.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“To me?” said Alyona.

“Actually, both of you.”

“To me?” said Alikhan, his eyebrows furrowed.

Azamat took a deep breath.

“I know you’ll say that it’s none of my business, but just hear me out. Okay?”

“O...kay...” said Alyona, putting down her glass of soda and turning her full attention towards him.

“I don’t know if you two are just friends...”

They both blushed, Alikhan more so. That was enough to encourage Azamat to continue.

“But I just wanted to make sure that it was going to stay that way. It would be a really bad idea if... you know... if you were to get romantically involved.”

Oh, this was so painful. This was only the second conversation he’d ever had with his son and already he was having to give him relationship advice. He hadn’t had any preparation in parenting, and he hadn’t the faintest idea what the best way to do this was.

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